Girl Scouts ‘Waste to Wonder’ art on display in Alchemi

ROYAL OAK — Restaurants in the U.S. produce around 22 billion to 33 billion pounds of food waste annually, according to moveforhunger.org, which said that around 85% of that food that is unused gets thrown out while only a small percentage is reused or donated.

Girl Scout Troops 89911 and 8907 from southeastern Michigan worked with Amanda Koss, an artist, to help reduce food waste by creating an art piece using the food waste.

The girls and Koss got involved in Waste to Wonder, an initiative in collaboration with Ecosphere Organics, to create art from food waste.

The girls created watercolors using pigment created from local farm-to-table restaurants’ food waste. Waste to Water is also a part of the Detroit Month of Design.

The group shared their creation at an artist reception on Sept. 24 in conjunction with Detroit Month of Design, where a few local Royal Oak farm-to-table restaurants were attending.

Alchemi, located at 215 S. Main St. in Royal Oak, saw the piece created by the Girl Scouts and decided to purchase it for $150 to put on display in the restaurant. Koss donated the money to the Girl Scouts of Southeastern Michigan.

Alchemi donated lemon peels to the initiative, which were used in the art piece.

“By reducing waste, you make the world a more sustainable place,” said Chef Johnny Prepolec, owner of Alchemi.

Prepolec said that Alechemi has a mission statement based around sustainability, and the restaurant pledges to reduce food waste through an international program based out of Singapore.

“We collect our food waste, and we weigh it every single day,” he said. “We calculate our carbon footprint, how many carbon emissions we are reducing while we are producing food, and we have to have outreach in the community as well as education for our staff to support those goals.”

Prepolec said Alchemi has been doing this for around two years and that they continue to reduce carbon emissions.

Because of the mission of his restaurant, Prepolec said he felt compelled to buy the art piece created from food waste that came from his kitchen.

“I’m saying, ‘Wow, this is cool. This is art that was produced from our food.’ And so I bought one relatively large painting down there, and it’s hanging in the gallery room,” he said.

Koss said the materials used included hibiscus powder, coffee powder, grapefruit powder, salmon peel rind and more.

The Girl Scouts were able to learn more about food waste preservation and how it can help the environment by touring New Lab in downtown Detroit, where Ecosphere Organics does its work.   

“I learned that food waste can be used to make new stuff, so it’s not really waste,” Harmony Johnson, a Girl Scout in the eighth grade, said in a prepared statement.

Koss has been creating art for around eight years and has been professional for five. Koss works as an art curator, and she has a studio in Dearborn.

“Part of my goal as an artist is to help other people; it’s not just for adults or kids,” she said. “It is kind of where things just flow and feel right.”

Koss said she has a passion for working with others to share art and collaborate on different projects. She does art curation for Crain Communications and said that she has seen the Girl Scouts at their campus a lot.

“The idea kind of popped into my head to see if they would be interested in collaborating, and they were very open to the ideas that I have,” she said. “This is our second project together. We did a mural with the same group of girls over the summer in July.”

Koss hopes that through this project and sharing her love of art with young people that the Girl Scouts learn about community and how art can impact one’s life.

“A lot of my work is about pulling people together, and I hope they can use art as an outlet, an emotional outlet,” she said. “Especially as teenagers, it gives them an extra piece to an emotional tool belt that you need growing up.”

Emily Basnaw, an eighth grader, said she learned a lot about sustainability and working together.

“I learned a new technique allowing two artists to work together to create one piece of art — by trading their work and finishing what the other started — to create a collaborative piece of work,” she said.”